Marilyn Singer (www.marilynsinger.net) is the author of more than eighty books for children and young adults, including The Boy Who Cried Alien, I'm Your Bus, Tallulah's Tutu, Mirror Mirror, and Monster Museum. She lives with her husband and a variety of creatures in Brooklyn, NY, and Washington, CT.John Hendrix (www.johnhendrix.com) lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife and two children, and teaches illustration at Washington University. He has won numerous awards for his drawings, and his illustrations have been featured in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. He is the author and illustrator of John Brown: His Fight for Freedom, which was named a Best Book of the Year by Publisher's Weekly, and the illustrator of Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale, an ALA Notable Book
"Who were these men / who had what it took / to be commander in
chief of all the armed forces, / to suggest what to do with our
country's resources?" Forty-three presidents receive thirty-nine
poems here; Grover Cleveland gets two-one for each nonconsecutive
term in office. Unlike Susan Katz's The President's Stuck in the
Bathtub (rev. 5/12), which focused on quirky traits, this volume
touches on more sophisticated subjects such as political ideology,
foreign policy, and domestic programs. In a single poem Thomas
Jefferson and John Adams debate their political differences.
Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James
Buchanan engage in a four-way conversation about states' rights,
while Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren examine Manifest Destiny
in a two-voiced poem. (Poor old William Howard Taft, however, is
still stuck in the bathtub, as his corpulence seems to override
national issues.) A quote from George Washington in a bold
hand-lettered font opens the book, and with the poem positioned on
the facing page, readers have space to contemplate its meaning. In
other cases, however, the richly colored art overwhelms the text;
for example, William Henry Harrison's poem is lost in the swirling
storm that surrounds him as he delivers his inaugural address (but
then again, that weather also overpowered the man, causing the
pneumonia that killed him). Brief biographical notes of each
president give pertinent, but abbreviated, background information;
sources are included. betty carter Horn Book"
Gr 4 Up In this impressive collection of poems and matching
illustrations, Singer and Hendrix introduce readers to the
chronological roster of U.S. presidents, from Washington through
Obama. With just a few well-chosen lines, Singer limns the
character and/or significance of each man, highlighting
Washington's honesty; peace-loving Woodrow Wilson, and feisty
Truman: "No one was brasher/than that former haberdasher." In her
inimitable verse, she brilliantly captures Nixon's flawed legacy:
"Would people remember Watergate, nothing but Watergate?" Some
presidents are treated singly; others are grouped together, such as
former friends and political adversaries John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson. Hendrix's pen-and-ink illustrations match Singer's
nuanced text: undersized James Madison faces down British ships
standing on a soapbox, and an oversize William Howard Taft holds a
rubber ducky in his custom-made bathtub. In the exaggerated style
of political cartoons, they add wit and insightful detail. End
materials offer more factual information including a paragraph on
each president. There are many great books about U.S. presidents,
and this one follows in the footsteps of Alice Provensen's classic
The Buck Stops Here (HarperCollins, 1992) and Judith St. George's
So You Want to Be President (Philomel, 2000). Most libraries will
want to make room for this one; it's a wonderful teaching tool for
U.S. history and a delightful, readable book for a wide audience of
browsers. Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
SLJ"
This ambitious rhyming look at America's commander in chief is,
like the presidencies themselves, a mixture of hits and misses.
Singer's (Follow Follow) attempt both to be breezy and to give a
sense of historical sweep can lead to a few awkward moments. "The
most peace-loving leaders give up their credos," begins her salute
to Wilson, "when faced with attacks from German torpedoes." But she
doesn't shy from potentially touchy issues (Reagan's place in
history, the Clinton "scandals, the trial, the chagrin"), and she
infuses the familiar with new meaning, as in her verse for Teddy
Roosevelt: "He took on greedy corporations/ and foreign powers with
this trick: / A president should speak quite softly/ but always
carry a very large stick." Hendrix's (A Boy Called Dickens)
mixed-media, editorial-style portraits are handsome, often
incorporating bold typographical quotes from the presidents. He
imaginatively links one leader to another (a cut-paper stock market
graph portrays the economic trends that led voters from Bush 41 to
Clinton, for example) so readers see history not as a series of
isolated moments, but as a continuous trajectory. Ages 6 8. (Dec.)
PW"
This attractive collection of pithy, illustrated verse takes a new
look at the 43 American presidents. Each man is represented in a
poem, but some share the spotlight with others. Speech balloons
from the mouths of Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan are
spaced on the page to create one poem, while a more typical entry
profiles one president per page, and Washington garners a
double-page spread of his own. The appended historical notes
represent each president with a tiny portrait, a quote, and an
information-packed paragraph commenting on the man and his term in
office. Sometimes combining drawn and painted elements with quotes,
the artwork is eclectic and expressive. Packed with facts and
historical references as well as human interest elements, the
rhythmic, rhyming verse may sometimes baffle elementary-school
children and even older students without a solid grounding in
history and politics. Creative high-school teachers could find ways
to use some selections in their classrooms. In fact, almost anyone
reading the book will learn something new and find some amusement
along the way. - Carolyn Phelan Booklist"
Veteran author and poet Singer turns here to the forty-three men
who have held the office of POTUS, giving each a swift, often
irreverent poetic treatment. Like presidents, the verses are a
varied lot: John Quincy Adams has a rollicking limerick-esque entry
that notes "Folks found him a bother/ (as they did his father)";
Lincoln's sparer stanza addresses his fame ("By stovepipe hat,
beard, large size, / he's the one we recognize"); Nixon's entry is
one of Singer's self-designed "reverso" poems, appropriate for
setting his achievements against his ignominy. The poems often have
the compactness of epitaphs but a more interesting complexity of
meter and wordplay that makes them sophisticated choices for
recitation or reading aloud; the literary portraits occasionally
skip some key things (McKinley's, for instance, doesn't mention his
assassination) but are more often surprisingly thorough in a few
short lines. Hendrix's visuals bring it all to life, with
full-bleed mixed-media illustrations that combine the caricatured
yet careful linework of political cartooning with crisply layered
collagework. Quotes from the presidents become three-dimensional
and intertwine with their scenes, while well-chosen details and
clever approaches (Harrison and Cleveland play musical chairs,
McKinley crouches in the shadow of Teddy Roosevelt) add perspective
as well as amusement. This could be a springboard for performance,
a way to spice up American History, or a Common Core friendly entr
e into discussion about the merits of unorthodox presentation of
fact. End matter includes a longer description of the office, a
collection of presidential biographies, and a list of relevant
books and websites. DS BCCB"
Witty poetry and equally clever caricatures of all 43 presidents
create a book that can add spice to serious studies, but it's not
for beginners. If the information in the appendix were interspersed
with the poems, the less-intelligible ones-such as the four-part
conversation among Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan-would
begin to make sense. Even so, the backmatter is too spare. For
example, only readers who already know such tidbits as the
quotation "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" and the slogan
"We like Ike" will be able to appreciate lines dedicated to those
references. Singer shows mastery of poetic forms, from
appropriately "tricky" word wizardry for Nixon to eminently
pleasing couplets: " We will return, ' said Cleveland's spouse /
the day they left their stately house. / She was right-the chief
executive / had four more years (though nonconsecutive)." Some of
these work well for reading aloud as a team; the Reagan page offers
an excellent opportunity for a choral trio to demonstrate differing
opinions about a president. Colorful artwork recalls political
cartoons of yore, grounding poems in their respective eras, and
highlights presidential quotations. Carefully crafted poetry and
artwork ideally suited to history buffs. (author's note,
presidential biographies, sources) (Informational picture
book/poetry. 9-13) Kirkus"
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